1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a service providing server machine and a service utilizing client machine constituting a system for providing and utilizing services through a communication line such as the internet, especially a system for providing and utilizing services in two stages of a first stage of providing a tentative service (e.g., non-chargeable experience service) and a second stage of providing a regular service (e.g., chargeable full-support service), a service providing method for using a server machine to provide services in two stages, and a server program storage medium and a client program storage medium for recording a server program or a client program which causes a computer to operate as such a server machine or a client machine respectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent developments of communication lines including the internet, a variety of services have been provided and utilized including, for example, a home page referencing system, a mail order system, an education system, and a game over the internet.
These various services may include a system for collecting utilization charges from a user to provide him with chargeable services, a shareware mail order system which needs to receive a charge or its substitute from a user (purchaser), etc.
Such service systems may include many systems for providing services in two stages anyway, such as a system for first providing a new user with non-chargeable services for a predetermined period or time to later provide him with regular services after he subscribed formally or a system for first permitting a user to utilize shareware free of charge or very inexpensively to later permit him to purchase it if he likes it.
Such systems for providing services over a communication line have a large theme of how to increase the system users. To do so, many systems often provide tentative services such as the above-mentioned non-chargeable experience service or period-limited non-chargeable utilization services and sometimes provide the users with some merits such as point values or discount services in a mail order system. Although these services contribute to an increase in the subscribers, any other measures are expected to be carried out for further increasing the subscribers.